In love with a handsome sailor : the emergence of gay identity and the novels of Pierre Loti / Richard M. Berrong.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The first book-length gay reading of Viaud's corpus, this work will make an important contribution not only to the study of Viaud, but also to the study of gay and lesbian history, culture, and literature.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

In his careful reading of 11 novels by Pierre Loti (also known as Julien Viaud, 1850-1923), Berrong (Kent State Univ.) demonstrates persuasively the "gay gaze" operating either directly or metonymically. In contrast to Genet, Gide, Green, and Proust, Viaud avoided "homophobic self-hatred." He drew heavily on his experiences as a career naval officer, through which he could observe and participate in the male relationships of long ocean voyages and observe and exploit the accommodations non-Western cultures made to Westerners. For example, he based his Madame Chrysanthemum on his temporary Japanese marriage. (It did not, like Puccini's adaptation Madame Butterfly, end tragically.) Berrong judiciously concedes that the evidence on Viaud's own sexual orientation is not conclusive; after all, Viaud's election to the French Academy at age 41 indicates a personal life resistant to detraction. Yet Berrong's reading of what Viaud's contemporaries considered romance-laden travelogues suggests that all fictional elements--plot, characterization, narrative style--fall into place as gay novels once the code is recognized. Much of the code can be found in four pieces collected as Blossoms of Boredom, now little read, and published between The Story of a Spahi (1881) and My Brother Yves (1883). ^BSumming Up: Recommended. All levels. M. Gaddis Rose SUNY at Binghamton